


Beautiful Times

by Paint_It_Yellow



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Gen, Slice of Life, Very Slice of Life, Yugioh Secret Santa 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 16:43:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13127571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paint_It_Yellow/pseuds/Paint_It_Yellow
Summary: Aoi lives in a quaint little beach-side town and, after some prompting from her brother, goes out on a walk to observe the sights.





	Beautiful Times

Curtains always drawn with little to no light escaping was the usual for a certain room in a certain beachside house. It wasn’t something that many may give notice to in their walk past the house, perhaps too preoccupied by the thoughts of the beach just ahead of them at that point or perhaps, more likely, they weren’t all too bothered as to check out the upper window of the two story house. 

The room which emitted no light may have seemed to not house anyone- a storage room, perhaps- but that was not the case, for beyond the curtains you would likely find a teenage girl, lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling, or maybe a teenage girl, sitting and staring at a blank sketch pad as though ink would start spreading across the page and paint the perfect image. 

Outside the room there was a simple hall and in that hall you may find a young man, stern and yet sad, facing the door to said room for what may have felt like one too many times. A knock. Once, twice, three times and then a voice. 

“Come in.”

The young man, Akira, as it was, placed a hand on the door handle, opening the door and flicking on the light as so he could see who would be his conversation partner. 

Said conversation partner was now standing, facing Akira, eyes squinted for a brief moment as she let her eyes adjust to what may have seemed to be a new discovery for her. 

“Aoi, you can’t stay held up in here. It’s not good for your health.” His voice was laced with concern. 

Aoi cast her eyes away from her brother, instead opting to look slightly to her right as to avoid eye contact. She didn’t reply. 

“It’s the weekend, you should go outside,” he prompted, “I’m sure you’ll find something interesting to draw while you’re out.”

Words crawled from her brain to her lips, but she kept quiet, lips pursed as though she was unsure whether to speak what she really wanted or not, and yet, her hands seemed to tense for a moment, about to clench into fists as she opened her mouth, gaze moving from the right side of her brother to the floor just in front of him. Her hands, however, didn’t get to clench, and her words were lost before they were even spoken as her brother added on another simple word. 

“Please?” 

Aoi’s resolve dwindled. Evidently she wasn’t all too fond of the idea of going outside, and yet, this was her brother. She couldn’t just refuse like that, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Maybe another time in the future, but not now. 

There was a pause of pregnant silence before either of them spoke. 

“Alright.”

Akira’s eyes seemed to soften, a corner of his mouth quirking up ever so slightly that one may have missed it but Aoi didn’t- she’d never miss a detail like that-  and soon it was gone, and he disappeared from her room. 

Aoi stood looking at the door for only a moment before turning to face the still drawn curtains before moving her gaze back to her bed where she had been mere moments before and where her sketchpad lay, shavings of a rubber still fresh on the open page. Taking a breath, she took a small step forward to grab it, dusting the shavings from it and turning to her bedside table to pick up one of the pencils and the soft rubber that was sitting next to it. 

It didn’t take long, despite her initial reluctance, to reach the door of the darkened room after all, there wasn’t much she needed to bring other than herself; the rest were just add-ons really. 

Before heading downstairs to exit, she made sure to tell her brother that she was, in fact, going out at this very moment. He had in turn urged her to bundle up as it was a rather cold morning, advice which she heeded as she set the contents of her arms onto one of the surfaces by the door in order to slip on a light brown duffle coat, a pair of shoes and a light blue scarf. 

Gathering her items back up from the surface, Aoi grasped the door handle and opened the door, meeting a blast of cold air and a cold sunshine. Stepping out and glancing towards the sky she found that there were clouds in the horizon and yet the sky immediate to her was clear, a cool blue that was most fitting considering the season. To one it may have brought a smile to someone’s face. Not in happiness nor in relief, but a smile at such a fitting and still view. Aoi was not that one, pulling the door closed behind her as she began what she had decided to dub a ‘leisure walk’ in a rare burst of sarcasm on her part. 

Not deciding on a path and just going where her mind subconsciously went, Aoi walked down the small pathway that separated her house from the road, walking past the wall and staring across the road as cars passed by. 

It always seemed to mystify her in some ways that people would drive down to such a town just because it was home to a beach or two even when it was no longer warm and the cold seeped through every surface it could get to. Well, she supposed that that was just the way that some people are and that having grown up in the same beachside town for most of her life- certainly the most that she actually remembered- may have desensitised her to the outward beauty the town may hold to outsiders. 

Eventually, the traffic seemed to part way and she crossed the road, willing herself not to stuff her hands into the pockets of her jacket lest she accidentally drop her sketchpad. In the end, she compromised with herself by stuffing one hand into her pocket along with the pencil and rubber while the other one was left out to face the cold alone. She wished she’d brought gloves. 

Taking a turn, Aoi walked on the pavement alongside the rocky beach, the waves of the sea gentle and yet powerful while the scent filled the air, cold as it may be. 

Now, it wasn’t to say that people visited the town to visit the rock beach, despite how vast it was. The sand beach was much more popular- not that Aoi necessarily agreed with that. Rock beaches offered a lot more to her, she found, with much less of a takeaway. She wouldn’t say that she didn’t see the appeal some people may have in sand beaches, in fact, some of the appeals many people found in sand beaches were the reason she didn’t enjoy them. 

Sand is a nuisance, that’s the bookend of the matter. It feels weird beneath your toes and it gets in your shoes if you try and avoid the first issue, not to mention that it gets into your eyes if it gets windy. Rocks don’t get in your eyes, well, not from the wind at least. 

Rock beaches had a sort of charm that a lot of people seem to miss; a myriad of hidden treasures. It was dark and slippery in the worst of times, but there was so much more to find. The gaps between rocks hid away pools of water, often more than not hiding away creatures seeking refuge from the loud silence that the sea provided for them, and the sea itself would wash over the otherwise dark greys, browns and blacks of the rocks, adorning them in seaweed almost as if it were an accessory and brushing over them to leave a shimmering finish. A work of art, she thought. 

Continuing on her way, sparing the rock beach a fleeting glance as only half of it shimmered in the cold sunlight, Aoi closed her eyes. It was only a brief moment, taking in the scent of the sea water and the sound of the waves as gentle as they were that day. Her eyes opened again, leaving the rock beach as a mere afterthought, paying even less attention to the scenery alongside her as it ebbed away to show a sand beach, of which she had rather little interest in. The pavement in front of her showed to still be as empty as it had been before as she approached a park, a small building just by it that sold confectionaries according to the words printed both on top of it and on the menu on the side, though it was clear to most people who took a moment to think about it that it’s main export was that of ice cream and little else, even in the winter times. Aoi couldn’t say she understood the appeal of freezing foods in similarly freezing environments but it wasn’t as if her opinion mattered in this nonexistent debate.

The park itself was nothing spectacular, though you would be hard pressed to not find any children- local or not- playing around in it. As it was, it was split in two. A small skatepark that mainly had either children who had taken the decision that they were too old and mature to enjoy the ‘kiddy’ park, and yet also at the same time not admit the fact that they wanted to be in a park, and a ‘kiddy’ park complete with swingsets, a slide, a seesaw and a roundabout in what clearly used to be an array of bright colours before they had been battered by the passage of time. It wasn’t the prettiest in the most traditional sense, but it did have a sort of charm to it. 

Today the park- both sections- was rather quiet. That was to say, in population and not in screaming. The few children that were there managed to create that magnificent volume that only young children seemed to be able to produce that seemed to be lost in some sort of the way growing up. Bittersweet. There were a few adults on the colourful benches alongside the base of the grassy slope that was along only one side of the park, some of them chatting and others just seeming to enjoy watching their child having fun. Typical as a scene, nothing unique in its presentation or general rarity, but a scene that Aoi and undoubtedly many other would find themselves returning to many a time. 

Just beyond the park there was a large stretch of sloping grass overlooking the sea, benches similar to those near the park and yet with completely different meaning to some people that Aoi would likely never meet. Houses went along the top of the slope, the two separated only by a road. After a moment of deliberation, Aoi walked only a bit further before wandering up the slope to sit on one of the benches- blue, as it happened- making the conscious choice not to sit in the middle as to not cover the silver plaque that gleamed despite everything. She turned towards it, reading it out to herself despite having likely read it many times before as she usually would if she had decided to sit there again. 

“Alec Campbell. 1930-2016. A loving husband, father and grandfather.” 

Clearly a loved man, he must have been for his family to go this far for him. It was a somewhat melancholy thing, she supposed, but it had seemed to her that it symbolised something much more as the plaque was sat forever staring towards both the sea and the horizon, for whatever one could make out of that.

She allowed herself a small smile at the thought as she pulled her hand out of the pocket, bringing with it the two items she had also earlier placed within it. The sketchpad was placed on her lap as her opposite hand, now reddening from the cold, was tucked close to her person as she hunched slightly over her notepad, knees slightly up as so the sketchpad wasn’t flat and feet only half on the ground now. 

Her warmer hand that was now grasping her pencil, rubber placed on one of the bars of the bench next to her, hovered over the sketchpad as she paused, eyes facing forward as she took in the view presented before her. 

Not a sight she hadn’t seen before, nor one that she hadn’t drawn before, but nothing stays stagnant forever in this world, not once had she came by a place that was never-changing. It was a way of life, she supposed, though in a way it did make her feel a bit left behind by nature. It was something she had come to terms with a while ago now, but sometimes it would plague on her mind and it was at times like that, when the world felt stale and still, that she’d hole herself up in her room. She didn’t have anyone she could say she considered a friend so things were left to fester in her mind, not wanting to have to bother her brother with her troubles as he was already doing so much for her and yet, he seemed to come through. Always. 

Her face was neutral, but her eyes became downcast slightly before she returned her gaze from the scenery to her paper, taking a deep breath as she did so. 

But everything was fine, if it wasn’t now, it would be eventually anyway. Things change, even when they feel they don’t they do, she doesn’t want to feel left behind so, even if she needs a few pick-me-ups along the way, she doesn’t let herself. Move forward, do new things, do old things, be selfish. That’s how she found herself living, even if she didn’t always mean to or realise it. 

It was probably because of this that Aoi took up art all those years ago- not that she could really remember exactly why or when- art changes over time. Style, meaning and emotion are only so many things that can change over time when it comes to art. A drawing she did as a child would evoke different feelings today than it would a year ago, it may be embarrassing to her one day, nostalgic the next or maybe even humourous the very next.

Her eyes, no longer downcast, glanced back up to get a better picture of what she had decided to draw, bracing slightly as a gust of the same cold air she’d felt since she’d stepped foot outside blew past her. Nevertheless, she detailed in her mind what her eyes brought in. 

As her eyes gradually made their way to the horizon, each moment was different. From the white, somewhat grainy sketchpad, up past that she saw her knees, covered in their brown tights, then her eyes continued to see a stretch of dark grass, frost forming as gently as it seemed possible on the tips as it swayed in the ever present gentle breeze, the tar path in front of it a changing site as she watched a family of three, two parents and a young child, walk past, all smiles and cheer. Beyond the tar path there was bannisters, pitch black and undoubtedly slightly chipped should she have went closer to see them, then there was the sea. 

Stretching out, vast and unknown. Another part of nature that was ever changing and always more beautiful for it. The water was calm, no whitish-grey froth, no crashing sounds against the concrete above which sat the bannisters, just complete calm as it seemed perfectly content in being as it was, where it was, despite the fact that another part of it was likely the complete opposite of the small portion Aoi was able to view in this one small area of the world. 

Her eyes continued to wander even past the sea, facing the sky. Not as blue as when she had left the house, she realised, time must have passed as it usually does, though she hadn’t realised that such a short walk had made such a significant change, though winter was like that. Things would move on much quicker than they had before. It was ever so slightly darker, clouds now much more solid than they had been earlier, some darker than others making her wonder if they were going to be getting snow anytime in the near future. The thought entertained her for not much longer than a few seconds as her gaze swiftly travelled from the sky back to her sketchpad. 

At first, her hand moved slowly, almost unsure, as she started to roughly sketch where the pathway would go, nothing more than two lines precisely placed on an otherwise blank page at first. She built up from there. The banisters first, rough and crude, playing more so by memory than anything as she refused to look away from what she was attempting to create.

After the bannisters were ‘done’ she moved on to sketch the islands in the distance- albeit very haphazardly- and thus acting as a divider of sorts between the sky and sea. After the divide was made clear, she moved back down the page, working on some of the larger details that could be noticed should one have been in her position, looking in the same direction as she.

Two benches, spaced rather equally at first before she rubbed one out, placing it slightly more to the left as so it wasn’t as symmetrical and superficial in appearance. The concrete slab that was beneath them was sketched in only a few moments after in the form of a simple rectangle. After a pause of deliberation, she even decided to include some hazy sketching that looked vaguely like three people, two larger than the third. 

After sketching the bare necessities, Aoi allowed herself another glance up to re-familiarise herself with it all. Again, the clouds had moved and she saw a person with a dog escape her vision only slightly all while the sea was in a constant state of change that she was well aware that no one could ever hope to keep up with. Her gaze moved yet again. 

She began to put a bit more detail into the incredibly awkward looking sketch she had before her, making some lines more clear while rubbing out the messier parts to create a much cleaner picture over all while also taking the time to completely remove and remodel certain sections. 

The benches were the first to get a little bit more detail as the bars that made them up became much more clear, lines less messy, too. She worked downward from there, doing some simple shading to the slab with the side of her pencil- already much more blunt than it had been when she started- so that the two objects seemed both separate and one all at the once. 

She next shaded the tar pathway rather lightly, doing her best to find a gradient or technique that didn’t make the path look too flat, and while the bannisters that appeared to be attached to it remained blank, that didn’t remain for too long as they gained a similar treatment even if they were shaded a lot darker for the most part, though certain parts were left much lighter with a gleam. 

The sea and horizon she found herself redoing many a time before she found herself somewhat satisfied with it, managing to re-sketch what she deemed a much more decent outline of the island that lay in the hazy distance and placing what appeared to be imitations of small waves in the sea by shading the areas at which they may appear. The sky itself was much less trouble, only daring to etch in the wisps of cloud that appeared overhead. 

The grass is what gave her the most trouble, though that was to be expected seeing as the abundance. It wasn’t too soon until she decided to settle on shading the grass at its most dark, where the sun hadn’t hit it as it had done so the others, though she did find it much more fun to draw the blades of grass come up against the concrete slabs. 

Her pencil lifted from the page after quite a while, her hand starting to both cramp and freeze which was, decidedly, not a good combination. She looked between her hand and her sketchpad before closing it over. She could finish anything else once she was back in the house, surely, and she dare hoped that she would find the will to do so. Picking up her rubber from beside her, she stood and in no time at all the rubber, pencil and the hand grasping said items were all placed back into her pocket as the hand that had previously been tucked into her body fell beside her, sketchpad in tow. 

She made her way back down the grassy slope, perhaps not taking in as much detail as she previously had on her journey up, but enough nonetheless. 

As she wandered past the sectioned park, she noticed that there were still children playing and still parents sitting on the benches, while they did look different from those who were there the last time she walked by, she noticed. The kids were noticeably quieter than they were the last time and there were more people in the skatepark section of the park now, children younger than her and yet those that probably went to her school- not that she would actually know them. 

Tracing her steps even further, she found herself coming across the sand beach first, as it was destined to be. She paid slightly more attention to it than she had the last time they had come across one another, drawn by the sound of barking. As it so happened, there was two dogs splashing through the waves, one with a ball in its mouth as it soon ran back to the woman who was lagging just behind the two who took the ball from the dog before throwing it again, causing both dogs to dart after it. It must be a very simple life, Aoi briefly mused before she turned away and the three were completely out of sight and mostly out of mind. 

The rock beach that she came across yet again was mostly the same as she had remembered it being from last time, though it was perhaps a bit drier than it previously had been with some of the rocks only shimmering in the light in certain parts and some of the seaweed adorning them drying just like the ones on the higher rocks that had been dry from the moment she first came across them that day. 

She stopped walking as she faced the road that blocked her off from her house, traffic more bountiful than it had been earlier which also made for a much longer wait. She watched as each car passed by without much care before they died down enough for her to make her way across the road and onto the opposite pavement, only to make her way back up the path leading to her house and entering promptly soon after. 

Closing the door behind her, Aoi took the rubber and pencil out of her pocket and placed all three of the items she had brought out with her onto the same surface she had done the same with before her outing, before unwrapping her scarf from her neck and shrugging off her coat, hanging the two up on the same peg before grabbing her belongings back up from the surface and heading towards the stairs, but not before she passed the living room to find her brother sitting there. 

“I’m back,” she called round the frame where a door should’ve been despite the fact that it was unlikely that he never heard the door closing. 

Akira glanced up from what he had been reading intently until the interruption. 

“Welcome back,” he said simply before returning to his reading material. 

Aoi backtracked slightly as so she could get to the stairs and went up and into her room. 

Her pencil and rubber were placed back onto her bedside table, where they usually resided, and the sketchbook joined them this time, half off the table. 

As she went to sit back on her bed, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her previously pale face was now flushed, looking much livelier than she assumed she previously had done, her short hair slightly ruffled from both physical movement on her part and the wind.

She sat for a moment on her bed, cross legged, before moving to sit on her knees, facing the window that her bed was sat next to.

If anyone happened to walk by and notice the smaller of details, they’d now notice that the room, where light once never escaped nor entered, had opened its curtains. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be very different with Aoi going around talking to a bunch of different characters at one point and at another it was going to be more fantasy-oriented but I ended up with this more relaxing story in the end!I hope you didn't find it all too out of character. It's probably the first thing I've wrote in a while now that I've actually liked so I hope anyone who reads this likes it too! 
> 
> Happy holidays!


End file.
